Knitting-machine.



No. 718,951. PATBNTED JAN. 20, 1903.

P. M.. NICHOLS. KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00122, 1901.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 I T j No. 718,951. PATENTED- JAN. 20, 1 903.

I. M. NICHOLS.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED 001'. 22, 1901.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Unrrnn dramas ATEN OFFICE.

FREDERICK M. NICHOLS, OF Ol-IIOOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TOLAMB KNITTING MACHINE COMPANY, OF OHICOPEE FALLS, MASSA- CHUSETTS, ACORPORATION.

KNlTTING-MACHINE.

SPESIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 718,951, dated January20, 1903.

Application filed October 22, 1901. Serial No. 79,509. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. NICHOLS, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing at Ohicopee Falls, in the county of 5 Hampden andState of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements inKnitting-lvlachines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to flat-knitting ma- I chines, and has particularreference to machines of this class for knitting fashioned garments. Itis well understood that in this class of machines a certain tension iskept on the fabric by a pair of take-up rolls, which serve I to preventthe stitches from being drawn out by the upward thrust of the needlesduring the operation of the machine, and these rolls take up the fabricas fast as it is knit. These rolls draw down the fabric evenly as longas the machine is knitting a piece having uniform width; but as soon asthe machine begins to Widen the fabric by one or more stitches at theend of each row the widened part will be under no tension until thewidest part thereof reaches the take-up rolls, and consequently theupthrust of the needles which are forming the widening-stitches has atendency to stretch out the widening-stitches and pull the widenedportion of the fabric up through the throat of the machine. To overcomethis and produce a uniform fabric, it is now customary for the knitterto take a wire and lay the end of it in the throat of the machine, drawit along on top of the stitches on the needles just ahead of those ofthe latter which are being pushed up, and to bear down on the wiresufficiently to hold these stitches down against the upward movement ofthe needles, thus performing the tensional func- 0 tion of the take-uprolls. This operation must be performed by the knitter at the end ofeach row of stitches until the full widening of the fabric has beenattained and the take-up rolls have caught the widened fabric. If thisis not done, the widened portion of the fabric will be knit in a looseand slovenly fashion and with a ragged uneven edge.

The object of this invention is to provide automatic means forpreventing the stitches which constitute the widened portions of thefabric from being pulled up through the throat of the machine by theupthrust of the neodles during the knitting of said wider portions, tothe end that the latter may be uniform in character with the main bodyof the fabric; and to that end the invention consists in the provisionof automatically-operating devices for holding down the stitches in thethroat of the machine against the npthrnst of the needles, whereby adownward tension on the fabric is maintained on said widening portionsin the same manner that it is maintained on the main body of the fabricby the take-up rolls. The devices whereby this is accomplished performsubstantially the same function as what is termed the sinker on acircular-knitting machine.

In the specification the word presser will be used to designate thatpart of the device which travels ahead of the operating-needles to holddown the work against the upthrust of the latter.

In machines of this class, wherein the different courses are laid by acarriage having a reciprocating movement, two pressers are provided, onebeing thrown into action when the carriage is moving in one directionand the other when it is moving in the opposite direction, andpreferably these pressers are mounted on either end of an arm which hasan oscil- 8o lating movement in the plane of the throat of the machineand is supported over the latter on the thread-guide arm, saidoscillating arm being operated by suitable mechanism at the end of eachtraverse of the carriage to cause the proper one of said pressers to beswung down on the stitches extending across the throat of the machineand held there under the required tension while the course is knit.

In the drawings forming part of this speci- 9o fication, Figure 1 is aperspective View of a part of a flat-knitting machine, partly in sectionand showing my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an elevation of athread-guide site side.

view showing the relation of the device both to the needles and'to thestitches looped over the latter.

Referring now to the drawings, (1 indicates 5 portions of the frame ofthe machine, on which are supported in the usual manner the needleplates 1). The needles, which are indicated by 0, may be of the usualtype of latch-needles laid in raceways d, cut in the surface of the IOneedle-plates, the latter being arranged in the usual manner, wherebythe path of the needles will intercept and cross in the throat of themachine. The usual carriage e is located astride of the needle-platesand has a longitudinal I5 sliding movement thereon from one end to theother, being actuated by any suitable mechanism, as the crank-arm f,which may be connected Wit-h some suitable eccentric to give it thedesired movement whereby by the engagement of the usual cam-surfacesunder the carriage with the needles the latter-are successively given asliding motion in the needleplate to pick up and cast off the loops ofyarn .in the usual manner in this type of machine. The carriage hassecured thereto the usual latch-openers g, and beneath the machine arethe take-up rolls h, between which the fabric t' passes. The carriageslides in ways on the side barsj of the frame, only one of which isshown in the drawings, and on the top of these side bars is a gib k, onwhich slides the threadguide carriage Z. Movement is imparted to thecarriage l by the carriage e by means of pins on in said carriage e,which during the reciprocatory movements of the latter come in contactwith opposite ends of the said carriage Z. More or less frictionalresistance is applied to the movements of the carriage Z by means of acouple of springs n, secured there- 0 to and bearing against the outsideof the bars j, to the end that the movements of said carriage may beuniform.

Secured to the carriage Zis the thread-guide arm 0, which extends upover the carriage e to a point over the throat of the machine. This arm,at the free end thereof, has secured to it a suitable block 19, to whichthere is pivotally secured the presserarm g, which consists of ayoke-shaped piece of sheet metal, at each extremity of which is ahorizontally-dis posed U -shaped wire a", which constitutes the presser,attached by one end to the arm q. Figs. 2 and 3show all this clearly.This arm q is adapted to oscillate reciprocally in a verticalplane,whereby either end thereof may be tilted downwardly, and itis solocated on the threadguide arm that when either end thereof is throwndownward it will bring the lower member of the wire r down against thestitches of the fabric, as shown in Fig. 4, which are looped over theneedles. It will be observed that the position of the presser itselfwill not interfere with the operation of the needles in any way, and itsuffices to have the end of it long enough to hold down the fabric onlyagainst the upthrust of the needles, and after that movement of theneedles has taken place there is no further necessity for theapplication of downward pressure to the fabric. Therefore it has beenfound that if the presser is made of such shape as to reach back inunder the needles which are being operated far enough to cover three orfour sets of the latter it will perform its functions satisfactorily.

To hold the presser down to its work and to put upon the latter therequired amount of pressure to prevent the stitches from being pulledout by the upthrust of the needles, as described, suitable devices areprovided whereby by the contact therewith of the latchopener g the endof the arm g, which for the time being is the front end, will bedepressed slightly in advance of the beginning of its movementcoincidently with that of the carriage e, which carries it. Thesedevices are constructed as follows: Through each end of the block 19there is drilled a hole for the reception of an arm 5, one end of whichhangs down for some distance below said block and the opposite end ofwhich projecting through the block is turned at right angles to thedownhanging portion of said arm. This constitutes an L-shapedlooselyswin'ging arm in each end of the blockp. Located on the arm (1under each end of the block 19 and separated somewhat therefrom are twoblocks 25. (Shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 3.) The blockp is so made thatthe short end of the arm 8 may swing in aspace between the block 19 andthe yoke q, as shown in the drawings, and bear against the block 25.

By referring to Fig. 1 it will be seen that at the end of each movementof the carriage e the yarn-guide carriage I will remain stationary for amoment until the pin m comes in contact therewith, and it is during thismovement of the carriage e that the latchopener comes in contact withone of the arms 8 and tilts down to the forward end of thepresserarm qjust prior to the engagement of that one of the pins m which drives thecarriage Z and the latter. Thus there is constant pressure applied tothe forward presser to hold it down against the work during the movementof the carriage e from one end of the machine to the other, the presserbeing thus pushed along, the forward end of it just in advance of theoperating-needles and the recurved free end of it extending back farenough to provide a point of resistance for the stitches which arelooped over the needles against the upthrust of the latter.

On the end of the thread-guide arm is the usual thread guide u, throughwhich the thread is trailed along in the course of the machine andpicked up by the needles in the usual manner, the stitches on theneedles being successively cast off over the last-formed loops.

In machines provided with a traveling presser such as herein describedthe usual take-up rolls are not a matter of necessity, for the presseroperates to hold the stitches on the needles in their place against theupthrust of the latter throughout the entire course of their travel aswell as on the widened parts of the fabric and operate from above ineffect substantially as the rolls do from below.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination with the carriage of a fiat-knitting machine, of adevice for holding the Work against the upthrust of theoperating-needles movable along the throat of the machine in advance ofthe operating-needles, and means operable at or near the end of thetraverse movement of the carriage for throwing said device out ofoperative relation to the Work.

2. The combination of a fiat-knitting machine, of a presser pivotallysupported in the plane of, and movable along the throat of the machinein either direction in advance of the operating-needles, one end of saidpresser being adapted to bear on the work in proximity to said needles,substantially as described.

3. The combination in a flat-knitting machine, of an oscillating pressermovable along the throat of the machine ahead of the operating-needlesin either direction, the opposite ends of which are adapted to bear-onthe work at a point close to said needles, and means for moving saidpresser.

t. In a flat-knitting machine, the combination with theoperating-needles thereof, of a pivotally-supported finger for holdingthe Work against the upthrust of the operatingneedles, and means forreciprocally moving said finger along the throat of the machine-inproximity to said needles, and a device operated by the movement of themachine at or near the end of the traverse movement of the carriage tooscillate said finger in the plane of the throat.

5. In a fiat-knittting machine, a reciprocally-moving main carriage, athread-guide carriage movable with said main carriage, a presserpivotally supported on the threadguide carriage and normally out ofcontact with the work, and a device on the main carriage for engagementwith the presser, whereby the latter may be brought toa bearing on thework in the throat of the machinein proximity to the operating-needles,substantially as described.

6. In aflat-knittingmachine,athread-guide carriage, a presser pivotallysupported thereon normally above the Work, a main carriage movable backand forth on the machine, means on the main carriage for reciprocallymoving the thread'guide carriage with said main carriage, whereby thethread-guide carriage may have a period of rest at the end of each ofits movements, and a device for bringing the presser to a bearing on thework in the throat of the machine in proximity to the operating-needlesduring said period of rest, substantially as described.

7. In combination with a carriage of a flatknitting machine, of a devicepivotally supported over, and adapted to bear on,the work in the throatof the machine, and means for depressing one end of said device againstthe work at each end of the traverse movement of the carriage.

FREDERICK M. NICHOLS.

Witnesses:

II. A. CHAPIN, K. I. OLEMoNs.

